


Take The Crown

by leafings



Series: Earthbound and Down [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - Magic, Developing Relationship, M/M, Magic Harry, Prince fic, fairytale AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-03
Updated: 2013-05-17
Packaged: 2017-12-04 05:14:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/706960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leafings/pseuds/leafings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I hate this part” Louis remarks as snidely and as loudly as he can as Harry catches his eye in the heartbeat before they take the jump.</p><p>Prince Louis Tomlinson gets the shock of his life when he meets Harry Styles. In the magical forest. While he's going to kill the dragon. What. A. Coincidence.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know what is going through my mind this fic has become my life and I am sincerely sorry if it is shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kay so I don't have it all written yet and its probably really shit but here you go, its been driving me crazy and I will probably keep changing it about a bit but here it is TAKE IT.

Prince Louis Tomlinson was pretty sure that he was ready for this day, and had been for a long while now; he sat in the saddle of his horse outside the castle. Brown hair waving in the wind, and blue eyes cold.

Customary, when one turned twenty in the kingdom his father ruled, Alialith, was to go upon a pilgrimage, find a dragon, and slay it. All of his male family members had managed it, so why shouldn't he be able to? In any case, he was the only Tomlinson boy in line for the throne. There would be no one else. He's been training for months, survival in the wilderness is something that he's not used to, so the camping trips to the dark forest have become more frequent, and more than once he's been attacked by one of those things the townspeople call 'Atylos' (named after the Kingdom they supposedly come from) and if he ever sees one again he's going to make sure he cracks its skull open with his bare hands. But the problem is also his saving grace- he is Louis.

Louis is feared and revered, but is known to be kind. He stops to talk to people in the street, stops to help others that need help and spends days at an end off with Zayn and Niall where he can truly be himself, not Prince Louis who has to go on royal engagements, stand with his back up straight and be polite to everyone, but proper Louis, who swears, fights with Niall and doesn't give a fuck how hunched over his shoulders are- while Liam pretends he _"hasn't got a clue where the Prince is, honest"_ and covers for him every single time.

However, he thinks that's more down to Zayn bribing him with things that he doesn't want to know about, what those two clearly get up to is none of his business. He's already said goodbye to them, and Zayn's promised that if he is late he will come for him. He'll miss them if he dies.

He's already said his goodbyes, there have been the tears of his Mother and the conviction of his Father, he's impatient, who wouldn't be, he's off to slay a fucking dragon. He's got 4 weeks to do it in and a record to break. How hard could it be, really? Well it would be as hard as Louis made it, because he really _didn't_ want to do this, despite how eager he appeared.

He isn't cheered as he rides through the town gates, they never do, they're too nervous of the Kings wrath should he never come back. He looks down at them all as he passes on his horse, she's white and she sticks out like a sore thumb in the forest but what is he actually hiding from? 

The horns are sounded the minute he gets out the gates, and although his horse is doing a steady canter he feels no need to go faster than the pace he is already going at. He's going to need to conserve her strength; they have about 100 miles to cover before he gets to where the dragon will be, the crown has been tracking it to make sure that it's in range for him to attack it. And he will pass through many dangers before he actually gets there; he needs all the help he can get from his horse. Liam told him to change horses so that he was less of a target to wild animals but he couldn't leave her behind, not when he'd been with her all of his life. She might be getting a little old but who cares, she does the job and he refuses to give her up no matter how much his father insists he needs a new one.

The gates grow so small in the background that he can no longer see them and for the first time he is nervous. He can't believe how relaxed he's been about the whole thing up to now, it must have been a front, a show for the people because now, the more he thinks about it the worse the feeling in the bottom of is stomach gets much worse than he thought It ever could get and he feels a coward for feeling like this when he wants to be a knight. There's no way that he can carry on feeling sorry for himself if he wants to kill armies of enemies without blinking and be the future king of these lands, he needs to know them like the back of his hand, to have experienced them, this is why this is necessary.

 He slows his horse down as he surveys the area he's in at the moment; constantly on guard for something to jump out of the forest, for something to startle his horse, to startle him, but at the moment there is nothing. Strange, usually when they've taken him out before for training there are at least the far off sounds of something more sinister about to come for him. There is nothing like that now.

He carries on, the bag swinging off the back of his horse is what he has to survive from for up to five weeks and it is packed deliberately so that he runs out within three, making sure that he is able to make it on his own after that, by hunting? He's not sure, he's never made a bow and arrow but he's watched people do it, and feels like he could copy what he's seen to make a reasonable one. He's got dried fruits and water, bandages for cuts and a sword to kill the dragon with- his own personal sword that he's had forged for him by the best blacksmith the kingdom has, and his esteemed friend- Liam Payne, for this purpose alone and has been training with for months now. When the night comes on the first day he feels like he's travelled quite far and can make up camp.

He doesn't risk setting up a fire because the forest is muggy anyway, overdue a rain fall and he manages to climb up a tree, leaving his horse tethered down below and strap himself to the branch for a rather uncomfortable night’s sleep. He doesn't drift off immediately, just lies awake listening to the sounds of the forest, teeming with life that's out to kill him. If he could go back right now, if he was being totally honest with himself, he would turn around and give it all up and have a nice quiet life with Zayn and Liam (if they would let him) and he would never become King. But he has to.

And so he falls asleep a few hours later, exhausted, not from the walking but from the internal monologue of his mind.

 -

Day’s two to four pass quickly, and Louis to his own credit and determination hardly rests. He knows he has to allow for the journey back too, if the people in the nearest town refuse to let him borrow something I'm order to get back quickly. He estimates he can’t be that far off now, but he also estimates that he hasn't got a clue where he is heading and in what direction he is mean't to be taking. The dark forest is growing restless around him and it's a wonder he still has his horse at all and that a beast hasn't snatched it. He was expecting the horse to just go while he wasn't watching it at about day two, but it didn't and its still here, why does it want to stay?

He sleeps further up in the trees now and the sounds of the beasts grow louder. He wakes and there's a dry ache in his mouth and throat that he knows means he needs water, he unties his ropes and slides down the tree carefully, making sure that there is nothing around before he does so and he reaches for the bag which is still attached to his sleeping horse.

"You shouldn't have done that you know, anyone could easily have stolen your food." He jumps about six foot in the air and reaches for his sword before he actually turns and realises the boy can't be any older than eighteen at the most who has spoken.

"Erm." He says and the boy laughs, touches his arm.

"I wouldn't do that to you, don't worry." He takes the time to study him, green eyes and brown curls, tall and lanky. Like he hasn't grown into his own skin yet, he's absolutely stunning. Curly reaches out a hand.

"I'm Harry, you must be Prince Louis by the way you're going through the forest like a heavy footed giant? Shit should I be bowing?"

 "Fuck off," Louis says irritably and Harry smiles at him.

 "Oh I wish I could." He says mysteriously and Louis wants to crack the boy’s neck already, he's so mysterious and so annoying that he could honestly do without him being here when he's trying to just get on with it.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Louis asks him with a silent _'and will you please fuck off?'_ tagged onto the end of it.

"Well you see, the dragon you're about to go and kill? That's mine." Louis eye twitches in annoyance, what the hell does he mean that it's his dragon?

 "You what?" He says, deadpan.

"I mean, it’s mine to kill, I’ve been tracking it for months." Harry says defensively and Louis pinches the bridge of his nose, the boy is hard work.

 "Do you have a horse?" Louis asks, confused as to how he is planning to actually get there.

"Nope, walking the whole way." he smiles brightly and Louis smirks.

 "Then don't you think you have a problem with getting to the dragon before I do?"

Harry shrugs, his relaxed nature about the whole thing is annoying Louis more and more by the second and he starts to get his horse ready to leave again, taking a drink from the water he so desperately needed and gives an internal sigh. When he turns around, Harry is gone.

-

He wanders on in the forest with his horse, thinking about the mysterious creature that he met a day ago. Harry didn’t seem like anything but a dream now, something that his mind had made up because he was lonely yet only four days into his quest. He doesn’t quite want to admit that his mind was capable of making someone like that up, he has his fair share of good looking friends, Zayn looks like he himself has stepped from a magical kingdom, but nothing compares to Harry’s lanky form.

There’s a point when he is sure that he should have bought armour, he’s cut himself on branches alone in the time that he’s been out here, he is a danger to himself let alone if others managed to get a hold of him. Harry is the only person he has ever seen by choice out in the dark forest, usually reserved for outcasts and the dead.

He comes across a river, where he happily strips and dips himself into, letting his horse drink while he washes his body and his clothes. He sits on the bank of it while he waits for his clothes to dry in the days baking sun, it has rained since the first night and the weather has taken a turn for the better. It wasn’t called the dark forest for the climate- rather the inhabitants.

He lets his clothes dry as much as he can before he has to put the damp clothes on his back and set off so that he doesn’t lose time, and he’s actually thankful for the damp in his clothes after a while as it stops him from overheating. He has filled up his water at the river, but there is no way he can afford to drink a lot of it when he’s also sharing it with his horse. He gets hungry, but he feeds himself with the dried fruit and nothing else to make sure that his stomach lining doesn’t eat itself. He does however feel the hunger pangs, but he ignores them, he doesn’t need to feel anything.

He kind of wishes, by the seventh day, that he could have bought along Zayn or someone to that effect so that he at least had someone to talk to. Company is something he’s sorely missing at the moment, and talking to his horse is not something that he likes doing, as he believes that it means he’s going crazy. He misses the easy sarcasm he can slip into with a friend and just the feeling of friendship in general.

He starts to think he dreamt Harry up when he’s there.

His heart almost stops because he’s right in front of him when he turns around, and there’s Harry, clear as day like he never left. He’s not smiling but there’s something in his eyes that lets Louis know that he is quite pleased to see him no matter what his facial expression says and it makes him happy, finally he’s got someone to talk to rather than just his own thoughts and his horse. That way he can't talk himself into going home without killing the dragon and walking straight into the castle, up to his room, packing his stuff and fleeing to another kingdom incognito.

“Prince Tomlinson.” He greets, and Louis smiles lazily at him, Harry’s face twists.

He tosses a handful of something that looks like berries into his mouth and Louis wants to know what he should and shouldn't eat but he daren’t ask, even though his stomach is protesting that he should immediately ask him what it is.

 "What's your last name?" He says, and he doesn't remember the last time someone never answered one of his questions.

 "Styles, Harry Styles." he tries to remember if he's heard that name before but there's nothing, he can't think of anything.

 "Huh." he says and Harry just let's it slide. He's too busy staring into space to realise that Harry has stopped and so has his horse.

"How long into this are you?" Harry asks, and Louis dismounts and holds the reigns in his hands as he stares at Harry.

"Seven days." He says as they carry on walking, "So that means I have two weeks to find and kill the dragon before I set off home." 

Harry scoffs, and Louis narrows his eyes at him, Harry notices this and holds up his hands.

"Sorry, your highness." He says and laughs, and Louis can't be mad at him, he tries and he can't. He's not used to anyone speaking to him like this that isn't Zayn, Liam or Niall, his best friends from the kingdom. Harry has that twinkle in his eye that means he's not from around here, he's probably been on his own for a long while, Louis concludes by the state of his dress. He's got spare clothes in his bag but he doesn't know if he should offer him them because he's not even sure if he's going to let himself like Harry yet.

They walk together for a while, Louis doesn’t say anything and Harry doesn’t ask him any questions, so it works that they’re walking in companionable silence. Harry is like nothing Louis has ever seen before, wild looking and so free that he could never come from under the rule of the Tomlinson’s, where hardly anyone laughs and times are hard at the moment, times have always been hard.

He listens to the forest and he can tell his new friend does the same, there’s something so alive about it, that he thinks he could live here his whole life and not even see a fourth of the creatures that inhabit the place, he loves it but at the same time, he fears it- something that is natural for a place like this. He knows what magic exists, but he doesn’t have it, and he doesn’t know of anyone that does. But the forest thums with it; teems with magic and he knows that he isn’t safe here, that no amount of training would ever make him safe in the forest.

He doesn’t stop for a break like he normally would, so by nightfall he’s knackered but he doesn’t want to show weakness in front of Harry, who has a very serious expression on his face the whole time. His horse eventually just stops walking, which he takes as a cue for them to stop and Harry seems surprised, but doesn’t leave him, which considering they have known each other for about 12 hours he’s not sure what this means. Harry lights wood, and they sit around it, basking in the warmth of the fire, and Louis hasn’t felt this free of his duties, of everything, in forever.

He notices that Harry’s staring at him from across the fire and he resists the urge to say something, but then Harry is the one that speaks first.

“You’re different to what I expected you to look like.” He says, and Louis doesn’t know how to take that, so he just smiles across the fire from him.

“Well, I’m sure they paint a completely different picture of me than I actually am, I wouldn’t know.” He says and Harry shrugs.

“How old are you Harry?” He asks the question he’s been wondering for a while now, he’s been watching, Harry’s eyes are bright with youth, he has a round face, yet the weight of the world appears to be on the young man’s shoulders.

“I’m seventeen.” That is not the answer that Louis is expecting and he almost expects his face to fall onto the floor, a week into twenty he could never imagine being so alone and vulnerable in the dark forest for no reason. Harry is _young_ he knew that for certain when he first saw him, but he didn't quite expect the boy with the angelic face to be that age. Louis thinks it strange that he's out here on his own.

“Why are you here?” Louis asks him. 

Harry looks away from his gaze, and flicks his hair from his face, “Ask me another time.” 

Louis scratches his hair and thinks that maybe he has upset him, but the bright smile returns a few seconds later that clearly covers what he was thinking about.

“Tell me about yourself Louis,” Harry licks his lips “tell me everything.”

He doesn’t know what Harry means so he doesn’t miss anything out. He tells Harry about his life in the castle, the sheltered nature of it all and how much he loves to be out in the danger-zone, in the dark forest. He tells Harry about Zayn, how his dark and mysterious nature is a big hit on the girls but Zayn wants to be a knight of the crown just like Louis, who doesn’t actually want to be King. He tells Harry about Liam, how the blacksmiths son is the best in the whole kingdom and that’s who made his sword, which he hands over to Harry for inspection, something he hasn’t thought through because Harry could easily have run off with his sword, but he doesn’t.

And then he tells Harry about Niall, who is an immigrant that sought asylum in the kingdom but ended up being the one with the best bow and arrow skills he had ever seen, in fact he has never seen Niall miss, and is one of his best friends. He tells Harry about his sisters, about his room and the fact that sometimes, Louis wishes he wasn’t a prince at all, and that he could just leave a normal life without the pressure of the throne but that it’s his duty to the people, who live such an unhappy life at present to make their own lives better, even if he doesn’t want to be King he can’t be selfish and leave the throne to some random man, he needs to lead, to show and to help.

Harry listened to him talk on and on with rapturous attention, something that Louis wasn’t used to, because usually no one wanted to talk to him. Harry had gotten closer to him over the course of the talking; he was now sat beside him staring at the fire, when he ends his talking Harry is still staring, something catching his attention.

He places a hand on Harry’s shoulder; warmth is spreading through his fingertips as he does so, something almost magic-like.

“You alright mate?” He asks and Harry looks at him with a half-hearted smile this time, there’s a look in the man’s eyes that isn’t right.

“I’m fine,” he says quietly, “I’m fine. It’s just, you’d make such a good King.”

-

Harry stays with him after that, he doesn’t know why but he’s grateful. There’s someone to talk to, to make sure that the burden of the journey isn’t so much, and someone that he can stare at when Harry’s not looking.

He’s not grateful, however, when he unties himself a few nights later to the sound of snarling and his horse going crazy and he looks down to the sounds of wolves eating his horse. He’s not sure what he should do, he thinks about dropping down but a hand stays him, Harry’s hand on his shoulder.

Harry, who is a branch up, sends an arrow down and straight through its skull, but there’s nothing that can be done about his horse. He strokes it fondly as Harry watches him from across the clearing that they had found, he’s packing his bag with such frustration that Louis wonders what’s wrong but doesn’t ask. Maybe he doesn’t want to know.

They set off walking after that, Harry swings his arms as they walk and every now and again they brush Louis, because they’re walking so close to each other. It makes Louis want to reach out and grab him, because there is something about Harry that is so addictive that it makes him feel like one of the best drugs in the world. It’s a cold day in the forest and they’ve almost walked right to the edge of his kingdom, where he stops being Prince Louis and someone else takes the crown from him. His breath comes out in clouds and so does Harry, who has frost clinging to his clothes, the sun hasn’t yet risen, and there are less trees here, near the edge.

There’s a sound that echoes through the forest around the, and Harry stops him still, grabbing the top of his arm and holding it tightly, so tightly that he thinks he has lost the blood supply but then there’s that tingling sensation that accompanies Harry’s every touch. Harry is still, he is listening to what could be coming for the both of them. The sound gets closer and closer, and Harry’s eye twitches in concentration, he’s waiting for it to stop stalking them, Louis realises.

The forest goes silent, nothing makes a sound, the birds have stopped singing.

Harry pushes him then, shoves him in fact and the only thing that stops him from falling straight into the ground is Harry’s tight grip on his arm and all he can see is green, the green of the forest, the green of the grass and the green of Harry’s eyes as they’re running, sprinting through the forest to try and leave whatever is chasing them behind.

All Louis can hear is his heavy breathing which matches Harry’s as they run for what seems like an age, he can hear it, occasionally, the sounds it makes aren’t welcome in Louis brain and he doesn’t think that so far in his life he has ever been this scared. Harry’s face matches his own, and eventually there is nowhere left to run, because they become boxed in by trees, and an abandoned farm. His legs burn and so do his lungs and he’s not sure he can make it much further.

It’s disgusting, the creature, but then he knew that it would be to make Harry run like that. He hasn’t seen this one before, he hadn’t ventured far enough into the forest but this is the outskirts of the complete other side of the Kingdom, he has never been here before- it would be suicide.

Harry jumps the fence, climbing up quickly, swinging a leg around the top and holding out his hand for Louis to do the same. Louis panicking, he won’t make it, he hears it behind him, it’s tearing into his leg, he’s screaming, Harry’s pulling and suddenly he’s on the other side of the fence, holding his leg and his visions blurring and so are the edges of his thoughts.

Harry’s there, of course he’s bloody there, now it’s on the other side of the wooden fence, he can still hear it but it isn’t coming for him anymore, but it got him good, he feels the pain hot white and burning, lance up his leg so that he whimpers and Harry’s unpacking his bag and taking out the bandages and the extra pair of clothes that Louis has been carrying around, he’s been wearing the same pair he left in but taking off layers and bathing in any rivers.

Harry’s stripping him, something that his pain addled brain can’t really handle at this time because he’s not quite sure whether he likes it or not, and then there is more agony as Harry pours the last of the water onto his wound and he cries out. Harry’s got his concentration face on, he’s unrolling the bandages and pressing them down hard, wrapping them around his leg with such practise that Louis, if he was fit to make such assumptions, was sure that he had done this before, maybe to himself.

Harry roughly pulls him up, Louis is aware that he is still almost naked, and is dragging him towards the abandoned house. He’s quite sure that he hears Harry say ‘fucking Tomlinson’ Harry kicks the door open, still holding Louis but deposits him on the floor in a heap as he locks the doors and checks the house about for anyone in there or any danger that there could be to them.

Louis doesn’t move, well to be honest he can't move, until Harry gets back from checking that the house is safe, and then he crouches down next to him. Louis isn’t even aware that he’s shaking hard until Harry places a hand on his shoulder to try and keep him still but it doesn't work it just makes Harry shake with him.

“Louis?” He asks and Louis can’t reply because his head is still spinning from the pain. “Louis, are you fucking okay?!” there is panic in the younger boy’s voice.

Harry’s closer now, holding him too his chest and he can’t reply, he can’t see Harry but he can hear him, smell him, Harry is all around him and then it’s black.

-

He wakes up with a start, Harry’s nowhere to be seen, he doesn’t know how long he’s been out but he knows it could have been hours, could have been days.

He sits up, his clothes have changed, someone has changed them, and the room is unfamiliar. He goes to get up but pain slides up his body and he hisses, but gets up anyway. He’s on a quest for fucks sake; he can’t afford to waste his time being sick. He inspects the wound quickly, only to find that on the surface there is nothing. He checks twice in disbelief, there is no way that claw marks in his leg would disappear that fast. The pain is real, this happened, but there is no evidence. He thinks back to what happened and he can't think of an explaination and he sort of doesn't want to as long as he's fine to move on but he has a distinct thought that this was to do with Harry.

He finds Harry downstairs- he has also changed. He doesn’t see Louis at first, but when he does the look on his face changes from one that is indescribable to one of utter relief. A smile spreads that Louis has to return- like they’re part of the same piece, like they’re one of the same.

Harry’s hugging him in seconds, a warm body against his own that he rarely feels, and the first body contact that they’ve properly had. He presses his face into the younger boys shoulder and wraps his arms around him- even though Harry is taller he fits perfectly. There’s the sensation of relaxing string as they fit together, it grows less tense, Louis didn’t even realise he was tense before the feeling rushed through him.

When Harry pulls away the delight on his face is evident, but the string feels tighter the further away Harry gets, causing Louis insides to writhe about. He’s filling up the water bottles and he’s taken the clothes from the wardrobes and he is putting them into their bag. This makes sense now, why he has new clothes; they are from the house they’re staying in.

“How long was I out?” Louis asks him, and Harry scrunches up his face, thinking.

“About 7 hours, I think.” He says and Louis wants to go mental, but he can’t, so he just stands there, waiting for Harry to finish packing.

Harry coughs, “Erm, there’s some stuff I need to teach you before you go to erm, kill the dragon. I-I’m going to go after that, I think.”

Louis is stunned. “I thought that you wanted to kill the dragon for yourself?”

Harry shakes his head, “There’ll be more, and there always is.” He says, but Louis is more bothered honestly about the fact that Harry is going to leave him.

“You can always come back with me you know? You can stayin Alialith? If you haven’t got any family or friends that is.”

Harry wipes his forehead with the back of his hand, he’s done packing and it’s time to head out.

“Erm, I’ll be alright actually.”

Louis doesn’t want to really let him know that he’d quite like it actually, if Harry stayed and came home with him, but he won’t say it. He’s too proud. He’s the fucking prince and Harry has no-one, why the hell would Harry not want to come back with him?

Harry checks the coast is clear before they head out, something which Louis would never have thought to have done- showing again that Harry belongs in the forest far more than Louis ever will. Harry checks back over his shoulder to make sure that Louis is following him before he makes a hole in the wooden fence with his sword this time. He ducks under and waits for Louis to do the same. They walk for a couple of hours along the border of the kingdom before they reach the destination that Harry has decided on, somewhere where the dragon would be near, he’s pretty sure in fact that he can smell it, and Harry sets up camp while he watches, leaning against a nearby tree. The sun is setting in the sky, it was morning when he had his accident and now it was night. He had lost a day of searching for the dragon, but every day that passed was another that he felt like he didn’t actually want to go home. He knows he has to though, he's got to suck it up and make the most of this.

Harry stays on the same branch as him this time, Louis ties himself to the branch but Harry does not, he has had too much practise Louis thinks, and he sits, swinging his legs off the branch as Louis lays his head back against the bark, which is uncomfortable.

“Do you believe in magic?” Harry asks Louis and Louis opens his eyes to look Harry straight in his own.

“I don’t know, how could there not be? When dragons and those creatures exist how could magic not? But I’ve never met anyone with any magic so I wouldn’t know.”

Harry contemplates this before nodding at him, “I suppose that’s the logical answer.”

“What would you say? If I were to ask you the same question.”

Harry’s face doesn’t change. “I’d say you were mad.” He chuckles, and so does Louis, and Harry’s own face softens at the sound.

“Stay.” Louis says, and he knows he’s not referring to right here, right now, but the future.

Harry doesn’t reply but his hand curls its way around his leg, warmth spreads, tingling through and spiralling up his body until he thinks he can’t live without Harry anymore, without Harry’s touch and that’s how Louis falls asleep.

-

Harry shows him how to properly carve out bow and an arrow, it takes a couple of tries but he makes it. He's practising with it now, trying to hunt for something for them both to eat, which is going really badly actually. So far he's shot the ground, a tree branch, a bush, the ground again and nearly Harry who made the mistake of standing too close to him when he was practising. Louis is frustrated because Niall has shown him how to use a bow and arrow many times before and most of the time he can at least shoot in a straight line but out here he can hardly notch the bow without it twanging in his face.

The way he's standing alone shows Harry that he is unfamiliar with the bow and come up behind him, pressing his chest flush to his back, curling his fingers around Louis own and that feeling shoots around his body quickly, so much more quickly now that they are touching flush and Louis finds the blush on his face increases tenfold as Harry leaves close to his ear.

"For royalty,” he breathes "You have a shit aim."

 Louis shivers and Harry pulls Louis arm back and let's it go, he hit the dead centre of the tree. Harry steps back with an approving smile that Louis returns and the warmth from his face moves down to his belly, and Harry’s smile drops from his face as he turns around, leaving Louis staring at his back.

“You’ve got two more days to find it.” He says, and Louis knows then that he’s got two more days until Harry leaves him for good.

“Please stay.” He whispers but he’s not sure if Harry hears him, but there is a tightening knot in his stomach as Harry moves to the other side of the clearing to finger his own bow and arrow with a face of concentration.

“For a future King,” Harry does say, “you sure don’t behave like one.”

“I like it that you don’t treat me like I’m the prince.” Louis says and Harry grins slyly at him.

“That’s because you act like a princess.”

Louis throws an arrow that doesn’t go anywhere near him and Harry laughs- Louis chest tightens at the beauty of it. He doesn’t know quite when he started feeling like he does for Harry, it’s kind of just snuck up on him, its jumped on him so hard that he can’t breathe any longer without Harry there.

A sound echoes through the forest in the precise moment that he’s admiring Harry’s curls, and Harry stiffens, and reaches for his broadsword.

“What is it?" He asks and Harry tosses him a glance that is not only withering, but excited. His eyes are alight; there is no mistaking from the look what they have just heard.

“That,” Harry says to him, in a tone that indicates he’s about to drop the bombshell, “is the dragon.”


	2. Chapter 2

Louis feels the blood rush through his body like he’s been cut wide open and exposed to the elements, ice water filters through his veins and he takes an automatic step closer to Harry and then openly curses himself for being such a fucking coward. It’s happening, the time has come. He hasn’t got a clue what to do but he grabs hold of Harry’s wrist, the crackling feeling that he’s so used to taking over his very being. Harry turns to him, hand on his shoulder near his neck and they’re so close that if Louis leant forward the tiniest bit then they would be connected, together and he knows Harry will be able to feel it too. Harry is just staring into his eyes and Louis is reflected in the green spheres of Harry’s own, he can see himself in his eyes and he feels like he’s falling for the first time in his life. He wants to ask himself the question, when did he ever have a sexual preference for men but the question dies in his head because he knows the answer is in front of him- Harry.

Harry pulls his hand away slowly, his eyes narrow and then open wider again with larger pupils before he picks up the bag and starts walking. Louis doesn’t let go of his wrist, and doesn’t until Harry pries his own hand away roughly because Louis is holding on that tight to the boy,  to dig through the bag for something that he obviously doesn’t find because he makes a dissatisfied noise before he runs a hand through his curls, and Louis finds himself staring at him, knowing he doesn’t even know Harry and yet he feels this way.

Louis takes the time that Harry is faffing with his hair to stray ahead, they’ve truly reached the edge of the kingdom and they’re looking out over the cliff top and across the sea. Down below, the rocks meet the waves and there is a nest between it all. The waves lap at the rock’s edge and there are smaller birds resting in the nooks between them that make noises that don’t sound like the birds back at home.

He's seen dragons in story books, they're meant to be huge, scary looking with rippling wings and large fangs, and he's not disappointed when he spots it in real life. He thinks for the first time, that he's going to die and he's so sure of it that he almost just throws down his sword then and there. All his training goes straight out of his head and when it spots him, he knows he as good as dead. Harry, on the other hand, is wiping his broad sword on his white t-shirt and looking as ready as he's ever been for something like this.

"How many dragons have you killed?" he asks him, fearing the answer if he's honest.

 "This will be my fifth." He stands there for the few more second and Harry says. "What are you waiting for? It to drop dead on its own?" He cringes away from Harry in that moment and turns his back, away from staring at the dragon and away from Harry.

 "I can't do this; I'm not fit for the crown."

"You're an idiot you know that? None of your family has ever killed a sodding dragon, why do you think I came out of nowhere? It's always been us, we always killed them for you for money, and we’ve never wanted the crown. I’m the last of them; I’ve been waiting for you to turn twenty so I can claim the money, so I can live."

Louis immediately wants to just die right there and then and never go back to the kingdom. All this time it's not even been his own family that are truly in line for the throne, it’s been Harry’s He looks at Harry in that moment and knows that the Kingdom would be much better with him as the King, there's no doubt about it. And even stupider, is he thinks he might even have feelings for him and it's all been a game to Harry, it's been his duty and he feels so stupid, so used.

 "Go do it then," Louis says, "Take the crown; I don't think I even want it." Harry stares at him.

"Don't be fucking stupid. People aren't just  _trained_ to kill dragons; they are born to do it. It’s magic, you fucking idiot. I’m magic. It's not your fault."

If Louis felt like he was going to suffocate before than he definitely feels like he is going to now. He feels like he can’t quite digest the fact that Harry is magic but it’s so blatantly obvious that he can’t quite contemplate the fact that he ever thought he wasn’t.

"Yeah well some people can't be trained to be King." he says lowly. There is silence and the dragon huffs in the distance, over the rocks, by the sea.

 Harry takes a step toward it but he stops when he sees that Louis doesn't follow.

 "Are you coming or what then?" Harrys asking him whether he would like to join him and honestly he wants to run right away but he doesn't, he takes Harrys outstretched hand for only a moment but it's enough. Louis readies the bow and arrow he made by the fire, and Harry nods out the corner of his eye and he lets loose with the sound of air whistling in his ears and it turns toward them with an annoyed sound, an Louis is now twice as scared as he was before.

 Harry steps forward with the sword at the exact time that Louis lets loose another arrow that hits it right in the eye. He takes out his own, and follows Harry down the rocks, he feels cold and there is something inside him that feels cut open, torn but he does what he has to do.

Louis is useless and he knows he is going to be even more so as he steps in the way of its eyesight, Harry lingers back, and Louis moves out of the way of its tail as it swings round. It doesn’t have wings, he observes, and it doesn’t breathe fire- myths. Harry licks his lips as he observes Louis; uncertain as he is he doesn’t want Harry to step in.

“I can’t,” he says, and this time there is conviction in his voice. “I actually can’t Harry, I can’t.” He’s fully aware he might even be crying but this isn’t something that he can do.

Harry’s behind him now, a hand on his arm that causes the connection between them to crackle before he steps in front of Louis, sword outstretched, but then at the last moment, he drops it.

Louis immediately shoves him out the way as the dragon senses weakness, its teeth moving towards where Harry was stood, and it scrapes his arm with its hot breath. He shoves the sword through the skin of its mouth, because his life is in danger and it thought about hurting Harry, blood flows from the room when he retracts his sword and it gives the ugliest cry as he does so, he wants it to  _die_ he just wants it out the way.

It carries on coming for him however; it moves slowly as it surveys him, Harry is up, next to him in fact as he dodges quickly and shoves his sword higher into its leg, and it’s trying to bat him out the way with its tail but it can’t reach around itself that quickly and that fast so it just ends up writing in pain. Louis thinks in abstract horror how apt it is that a creature like this has to die so that he can become the ruler of all creatures.

It gives a roar that is so loud that Louis is sure one of his eardrums, specifically his left,  bursts from the proximity, the ringing in his ears magnifies by a large amount and there’s a pop and a trickle of warmth that is most definitely blood. He doesn’t have time to see what Harry is doing because he suddenly finds himself underneath it, and he swings his sword up sharply and plunges it into its soft underbelly, and as it veers to the right it doesn’t seem like that was such a good idea anymore because he feels like it’s going to crush him against the ground if he doesn’t move quickly. His sword, is imbedded in its skin and he tries to yank it out as hard as he can but it won’t budge, and blood sprays all over his usually pale face.

“Harry, caught between a rock and a hard place here!” he yells but doesn’t hear any response from the young boy, and he’s still tugging when it lifts itself higher almost standing on its back legs and he is suddenly hanging onto the sword for dear life- but fate conspires against him in that moment as the sword chooses to finally release itself from the dragons underbelly, and he drops about 5 feet to the floor, knocking the wind out of him as he lands on his own stomach, cracking his arm on a rock with a resounding  _thwack_ and pain shoots up it, making him want to cry out but he doesn’t.

He can’t see Harry, even if he had spun in a circle he wouldn’t have been able to see Harry, and that is beginning to concern him now, as the dragon looks at him with inspecting eyes, probably wondering why it’s got a gash the size of his sword end in its stomach. It’s moving closer again, he scrambles to his feet with an effort that takes his breath away and he’s not sure he’s got much left to give, he’s not sure how he’s meant to actually stop it living but then Harry’s there and he’s  _glorious._

There is something about Harry in that moment that Louis thinks will probably be engraved on his very existence for the rest of his goddamn life. He’s wet, where the fuck has he been? And he’s carrying his broadsword but it’s tingling, there is something that has happened to it because as soon as it goes for Louis, teeth bared, breath in his face that smells so bad that he thinks he’s going to be sick. Harry is pushing him, he’s back down again and his arm kills him as he connects with the floor, but then Harry is throwing all his weight behind pushing his sword through the roof of the dragons mouth and he can see the exact moment that the sword connects with its brain because the light goes out of its eyes and he knows, Harry has slayed the dragon.

He’s pulling Louis backwards as it sways on the spot, he’s in the zone that if it fell he would almost certainly die with it, and Harry has fallen on top of him but he can’t quite bring himself to care as it slumps to the ground with the loudest thud before it lays still, quiet, finished.

Harry’s on him, staring him in the eyes with a light in them so fierce that Louis wants to capture it and use it to brighten a thousand stars. All he can hear is the sound of their breathing, but his ear is absolutely killing him now he focuses on it and he winces to himself and Harry catches it, rolling off him with a huff as they both lay, catching their breath and staring at the darkening unfamiliar sky.

He’s lost it, Louis thinks to himself and there is almost a strange sense of satisfaction in the thought that he doesn’t have to take the crown, because he tried to kill the dragon and he couldn’t- but at least he wasn’t a coward like the rest of his family were. He reaches out for Harry’s hand and interlocks their fingers.

He doesn’t know how long they lay there for, with their hands intertwined, his ear throbs and his lungs burn for the air that they’re taking in and eventually the adrenaline leaves his body and he lays there with his head running a thousand thoughts through his mind all at once and it doesn’t feel real that the dragon is dead and now he can pretend that he has killed it to everyone in the kingdom even though it was Harry.

“We best go,” he says and Louis doesn’t want to ever move but he knows he has to, although he’s not sure what he’s meant to take back for his father so he manages to get to his feet, swaying slightly because he has lost his balance and he walks over to the now dead magnificent creature in front of him, and makes a face as he reaches into its mouth and wiggles a fang until it cracks and comes away in his hand. Harry watches him with an indescribable expression.

“Were you always this serious?” He asks Louis and there’s a pause.

“I like to laugh with my friends; they always say I’m too sarcastic. Here, out here, is not the place for laughing. If the kingdom wanted that, they would have made Niall King.” He says, brushing his hand on his good arm on his leg, which is covered in blood and curling his fingers tightly around the fang.

Louis walks back up to Harry and gives him a face of his own.

“When were you going to tell me that you were magic?”

Harry smirks; it’s odd to see the expression on a boy covered in a mixture of dirt and blood, his hair plastered to his head with it. “Honestly? Never.”

He doesn’t say anything to that, because he knows that Harry is telling him the truth and honestly he would have been none the wiser if he hadn’t seen what Harry could do with that sword to the dragon, raw power had flowed through that boy. Harry is currently looking at the sky with a face that Louis knows means trouble.

“You’ve got five days to make it back, think you will be able to do it?”

“I could do it faster with a horse, but I think I’d be able to walk it.” He says confidently.

“With a broken arm and a burst eardrum?” Harry questions him with an eyebrow raise and he wonders how he was able to spot both of those things.

Harry has started back the way that they had both come, which surprises Louis as he starts to follow him blindly through the forest. He hadn’t realised that in his haste to get to the dragon that he had crossed the kingdom borders, and as he crossed back over them he felt a sense of repression weigh heavy upon his shoulders once again. Harry has the bag that he bought with him earlier, and as they carry on walking he wonders why he hasn’t thrown it away yet, what could possibly be in there that he needs right now, that he needed to slay the dragon. Louis has his sword in one hand and the fang in the other, tightly gripped as proof that he isn’t good enough to be king.

They’ve been walking for what seems like an hour when Louis stumbles first, the first time he picks himself up without Harry even sparing him a backwards glance. He doesn’t understand where they are going, they passed the clearing they had set up to train in about half an hour ago, unless they are going back to the abandoned farm in which case he feels like it was an age away.

The second time, he doesn’t get back up, because he hits his arm and the world blurs in pain and he cries out, clutching it and letting the tooth roll away from him, where it is picked up by Harry who kneels down to look at him.

“We honestly need to get to that farm,” he’s whispering in his right ear, his good ear. “We’re not safe out here, all the blood will attract the animals, and other… things.”

He pulls Louis up, who wears and shifts his weight showing how uncomfortable he is and they carry on. The sword has moved to being sheathed over his back and the heavy weight of it all is killing him, he wants to be asleep or dead, either because he is pretty sure that both make sure he has no worries.

By the time that he’s slipping under the fence he’s dead on his feet and Harry can see that but he doesn’t say anything. He remembers that the water runs on the farm and wants to sprint to get a shower but he doesn’t, he just waits for Harry to check that there is nothing inside before they go in. He dumps his stuff on the table before stripping his shirt off right then and there, and he finds Harry doing the same.

“Go for a shower, and then I’ll check you over.” Is what he says and Louis feels his eyes on his back as he walks upstairs.

He’s killed the dragon, it’s over. Is all he can think as he stands under the cold water, watching the water itself run red and go down the drain. If he wanted to, he could go back now and be the hero, he could officially become the next in line to the throne and he could live a happy life, Harry would get paid and go on his way and that would be the end of that. But of course, he doesn’t want that, no he would be stupid if he thought he would be able to do this the way that he thought he would be able to, but he doesn’t want to admit the fact that Harry is something other worldly to him, something that he will never see again in his life after they part ways- which Harry wants apparently because he ignored Louis request for him to stay. There are so many unspoken words between them that he wants to break the walls and the silence down and say something very un-royalty like, but Harry probably wouldn’t let him anyway. He turns off the shower after a while and he doesn’t bother to check himself because that’s Harry’s job. He steps out and notices that Harry has been in, he has left fresh stolen clothes on the floor and Louis feels like he is going to cry when he steps into them but he doesn’t.

Harry is waiting for him, he sits him down in one of the table chairs and Louis wet hair flops in his face and Harry doesn’t push it back. He examines his ear first, tender fingers that occasionally stray down to his face, that make Louis want to punch Harry with the pain he is causing him but he doesn’t because he is only trying to help. Eventually Harry sighs.

“I won’t be able to fix that, I’m afraid that one’s permanent.”

“What” Louis says and Harry goes to repeat it before he gets that Louis is messing with him, and he hits him on the arm and absolutely  _beams_ at him before he straightens his arm out.

“This, I can fix.” He says and the tingling pain of his arm gets more and more extreme until he wants to scream in agony and the only thing that is stopping him is the fact that his head is in Harry’s chest and then as suddenly as it started, there is no pain at all.

Harry’s smiling a lop-sided smile at him when he looks up and he wants to fucking kiss him in that exact moment, and he’s not sure if Harry feels what he’s feeling or is just responding to what is probably a dark look in his eyes because he drops his arm and steps away. Louis takes a tentative flex before beaming, standing and pushing Harry himself into the chair for examination.

He brushes his hands over the cuts on Harry’s bare back for a moment, already healing he notices in wonder and then he takes a look at the other already healing wounds. Scrapes on Harry’s wrists that indicate he has either fallen over on the rocks or he has been rubbing them too much against the wood of his bow and arrow.

Eventually he makes the verdict that Harry is annoyingly healthy as he can be and Harry orders him to the bedroom where sits and waits for his young friend to come back from the shower. He doesn’t want to think about today anymore, he wants to sleep and he doesn’t want to process anymore information- he will think about everything tomorrow. He gets into the bed, oh god its heaven to be finally sleeping on a bed after three weeks of the treetops and he sinks into it with a sigh leaving his lips.

He’s already half asleep by the time Harry himself crawls under the covers next to Louis and he doesn’t move any closer than he has to- Louis doesn’t have the energy to turn around, and he falls asleep staring at the moon out of the farm window, his good ear pressed into the pillow in complete silence.

-

He wakes up the next day and the bed is empty, and he knows, he just knows that the house is empty full stop. He almost doesn’t want to get up at all, facing the next few days without him will be a nightmare, he knows he got too attached; it was just so, real to have Harry just treat him as Louis, rather than a Prince. He always knew there would be that time that he would get too close to someone who didn’t feel the same, that didn’t _want_ to feel the same, that didn’t even want to know him. He lays there feeling sorry for himself for a good while.

He does get out of bed eventually though, and he packs his stuff into the bag that Harry has left behind slowly. It stings inside to think that he could just so easily leave without saying goodbye but what honestly did he expect of him, he wasn’t from the same world as Louis, the same Kingdom full stop. He had never spoken about himself but he probably had people to get back to, his reward to claim, that’s how he justifies it to himself at least, rather than Harry really didn’t want to be his friend at all. Louis sighs to himself.

He’s just going to have to suck it up and go back to the real world, where he is about to inherit an entire kingdom with around 3,000,000 people to look after when in all honesty he wants to run away and never ever go back. His father isn’t going to believe him unless Harry actually personally gives him the part of the dragon and that is impossible if Harry isn’t even there to do it. So he just puts the fang in his pocket, which practically burns the words  _Harry Styles_  into his leg and grabs the bag a bit more forcefully than he should have done, and gets moving.

There is no use prolonging the inevitable and the inevitable is that he gets back and he is welcomed by his town and life goes back to normal, Liam makes his horses shoes and his swords, Zayn practises with him, they go horse riding and they train to be useful to the Kingdoms army and Niall makes bows and arrows and teaches him the best he can. He watches Liam and Zayn circle each other (they’re not fooling anyone, in fact he’s already pretty sure they’ve stopped fooling each other) and he watches Niall get all the girls with his foreign accent and bright eyes, while he sits beside the throne and tries to act interested. There is no other life for Louis even if he wanted it.

He checks, Harry has taught him that he constantly needs to be on his guard, and he slips out from underneath the fence and back the way that he seems to remember that they came. He pushes his hair from in his eyes and knows he has to be extra careful now, especially when one of his ears doesn’t work very well in this environment because he could go from safe to eaten in a matter of seconds. There are no tracks in the grass that indicate that Harry has been there, or has ever been there in fact and he thinks that he must move like a ghost because he probably feels like one- his expressions are always transparent but not enough for them to make sense to Louis. He doesn’t know, he didn’t know Harry well, and that’s what it came down to, Harry was just being paid to do what he did and the emotional attachment was all on Louis side, as always. So Louis just walks, tries to forget.

By the time night comes again he’s walked for hours in his sort of brain coma, and he’s snapped out of it by the way that the forest comes to light at night. He’s pretty sure that wherever he stands in all of Alialith that this is the only place that is going to get this view, and he savours the once in a lifetime opportunity to look at the stars. Then he unpacks his bag, climbs up the thickest tree (that takes him about half an hour itself) with more effort than he’s ever felt in his entire life and makes sure that he’s settled against the bark before trying to fall asleep.

He doesn’t get any, in fact he’s awake so late, or early, he’s not sure that he watches dawn break across the Alialith skies and from his viewpoint he is reminded of why he loves this place. If he closes his eyes, in his mind he can see right across the borders from here, to Asteritrem in the far North, and he knows that Graniel is back the way he came, where he had slayed the dragon and where Harry had decided to leave him behind, he vaguely wonders where Harry himself was from, the fairy-tale character that he almost thinks he has made up.

Exhausted, he drags himself down. He knows he’s got about a day and a half at least of walking left to do and he doesn’t really want to do it but he’s got to. Its times like this when he wishes Harry was here, someone to talk to, anyone, even bloody Zayn who is a mystery unto himself at times and makes no sense in a broody attractive alpha-male sort of way would be better company than his paranoid, sleep deprived brain. It means that he constantly has to listen to his internal monologue, which by the way, is slowly killing him.

He stumbles his way through the forest, the fang burning a hole in his pocket and the sword on his back becoming heavier and heavier, when did he feel this ill? When did his chest feel this tight? He was pretty sure that the closer he was getting to home the worse he was beginning to feel, and actually it had nothing to do with the nerves flying about in his stomach.

“Louis, get off it, stop being a girl, you’re worse than Lottie.” He says to himself with conviction, his eldest sister could never stomach nerves she was always sick- not that she had anything to be nervous about. And then he realises that he was talking to himself and makes a vow to not do it ever again.

He doesn’t track the sun in the sky, he can’t actually look at it anymore without wanting to vomit as his eyes have grown so sensitive and there is something that he can’t quite fathom out about the way the forest is starting to look to him. He knows he’s near home, he can’t be more than a day’s walk away now, he’s been walking for so long that he can’t be that far away from home so he stops and he stands there and he gets it, it comes to him in a startling moment of realisation.

“I’m fucking lost.” He says, and he’s annoyed at himself because he’s got great sense of direction and he had been counting on his legs to just sort of, know the way home so to speak but obviously they didn’t because he should have been following the river and he hasn’t seen a drop of water since he left the house. He checks his bag, there is no water, he’s eaten all of his food, there is literally nothing in there but ropes and a empty canteen.

“I cannot fucking believe this,” and he just loses it, there is no way to describe it.

“Fucking Harry Styles fucks off and leaves me fucking alone in the forest in some fucking farm where I don’t know where the fuck I am if I ever see that fucking boy again I swear to fucking God I will KILL HIM YOU’D FUCKING THINK THAT IF I WAS A PRINCE ID HAVE A BIT MORE FUCKING HELP.” He punctuates the last two words with a scream as his hissy fit comes to an end and he shoves his sword into the ground and sits down.

There is silence in the forest and he breathes heavily, seething to himself wondering what the hell he is going to do. He should really go back on himself and try and find the river but would he hell be able to find that either.

Harry has been gone for exactly a day and a half and his life has gone to shit. There is simply no other way to describe it and maybe he’s being over dramatic but he actually thinks he might die out here, cold and alone and no one will ever find him or his body and his skin will be used by wolves to warm their young and he doesn’t bloody want that at all.

There’s a storm overhead that night, and the crackling tension in the air from the electricity doesn’t help him sleep at all, in fact it keeps him up. He hits his head against the bark again and again in order to try and knock himself out but all he gets is a headache. The forest is restless, he is restless, and he wonders what the hell is going on because the forest’s ecosystem probably means there shouldn’t be storms like this coming over.

His head is drowsy, he so desperately wants a drink, so badly that his throat is scratching him with every single swallow and he knows that he probably would be asleep if he wasn’t so close to unconsciousness itself. His bad ear remains silent and he doesn’t know if it will ever get any better, at the moment the pain in his body adds to the pain in his head, a tight band.

When he next wakes up and he feels even worse, he’s still attached to the tree and he can hardly see a thing and yet he scrambles down and manages to stand, swaying slightly but he needs to get away from the storm. He’s not scared of the storm, not now not ever he’s scared of what might be coming with it, obviously there is something or he wouldn’t be running away.

He’s left the bag and the ropes, he realises when he can’t turn back because there is literally no-where to go, and he thinks that if he doesn’t find a river he’s going to die of dehydration because he can’t speak and he can’t even think properly so what chance has he got of making it a few more days.

And then Harry is fucking there and he draws his sword and attempts to murder him.

He’s fully aware that Harry is shouting at him and he wants him dead because he’s got the point up against his neck, and then he drops it and punches Harry straight in the face, hearing the punch hit his cheekbone with a sense of sick satisfaction even though it really hurts his hand. It’s raining now, he thinks with amusement in the back of his brain, he wants water and he’s got it, he wants Harry and he’s there. What else is going to suddenly fucking appear? Food?

They’re both fighting each other now, Harry is giving back as good as he can get and Louis is trying to hurt every bit of Harry that he can reach. He’s got Harry by the collar of his shirt and is shaking the other boy senseless, he wants to ruin his face, and he wants Harry to never get up again for leaving him behind to fucking die in the forest. Harry hits him hard, in the side of the head and the pain is so intense from his ear that stars burst behind his eyes but it makes him let go of him, and then Harry is throwing him down and grabbing his head, a snarl on his face that makes Louis want to be sick but he can’t think properly through the pain as he grabs Harry’s hair tightly and pulls him back away from him instinctively as his ear throbs with pain and the rain splashes into his eyes.

“I fucking hate you.” Louis hisses and Harry narrows his green eyes, those pretty green eyes, into slits and shakes Louis, his hair falling into his face from the rain and Louis is aware he is covered in mud. Harry doesn’t say anything but it’s evident how he’s feeling-angry, but not as angry as Louis.

“Why did you fucking come back!” He wails “You don’t even know me! I don’t even know you!” Harry keeps a hold of him, staring at him like an open book, every expression Louis has ever felt in his life flickers across Harry’s face before he settles on something Louis can’t feel.

“Because of you, you complete and utter prick, because I couldn’t just fucking leave you to die and even though I just wanted to I couldn’t. You make me so angry with your lack of care about everything, your life, your throne, your kingdom, and this,” he waves an arm, indicating the air around them; “this is your fault.”

“Are you insane?” he yells back and Harry tightens his grip, “who the hell are you to tell me that I don’t give a shit about my people, of course I fucking care that’s why I want my sister to take the crown! I can’t do it, don’t you understand that from seeing me the way I am when I’m not my character, when I’m not a fucking prince? I am not born to rule!” he breathes heavily at the end of his tirade.

It’s at that precise moment that Louis stands himself up and pushes Harry slightly away from him but keeps a hold on the younger man’s shirt; and at that precise moment that fucking  _Zayn_  rides around the corner on his horse with bloody  _Niall_  in tow and he thinks he’s snapped, he’s hallucinating, he has gone mad.

“Prince Louis!” Niall calls and Harry stares at them with something like fear in his eyes as he glances back at Louis. He makes for a run but Louis stops him with an iron grip, he’s not losing him again.

“Don’t even think about it.” He hisses and Harry doesn’t, those green eyes, the bloody face stares back at him and he thinks about what Harry has said and he realises he is right. He doesn’t give a shit about his people, his title and his rule and he never will, and he shoves his hand in his pocket, reaches for the piece of dragon that makes him the rightful King and he presses it into Harry’s hand with such force that it cuts him, forcing his hand to close around it as he steps back and Harry looks furious. But Louis knows he’s done the right thing.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Harry and Louis get their shit together.

 “Louis mate, your Father’s been worried, you haven’t been back and he was expecting you and I- who the hell is that?” Niall is referring to Harry, who he has just noticed the existence of as he stares dumbstruck at the two of Louis friends on horseback, probably captured by Niall’s foreign accent and Zayn’s stunning beauty like everyone is.

“This is Harry,” Louis says and then he thinks and he adds, “He killed the dragon, not me.”

“He did fucking what?” Zayn nearly shouts and Louis shrugs, anger flushes the tanned boys face as he stares at Harry with contempt.

“You better come with us Lou,” Niall says easily, more ready to accept a version of the story than Zayn is.

“He’s lying. Louis, dont.” Harry speaks up and Zayn snaps at him.

“Prince Louis to you, curly.” He says with a smirk and Harry’s expression does not change, he is easily annoyed, Louis has worked out but so easily remedied. He gives Louis a drink, and he gratefully gulps it down, feeling better but not quite.

He doesn’t want to tell Zayn about the way his family has been working but he knows that he will have to eventually, but he doesn’t want to explain the story now. They really weren’t that far away from the town at all, Louis discovers but it seemed like an age. Niall had never ridden that far into the forest before, but he and Zayn had done so on numerous occasions from dares to quests to trying to find out things for his father. How apt, the thinks that Harry has come from effectively no-where to the other two, to steal the crown when basically Louis is giving him it. He knows Harry will never sit on the throne of Alialith but it’s more the gesture that will send his father insane to the point that he puts a female before him in the ranking system, and as the only son it’s either forfeit or the throne.

He glances at Harry, who is walking beside him in front of Zayn and Niall on the horses and he knows Harry is extremely annoyed with him but there is actually nothing he can do about it but carry on with his plan. It takes a couple of hours before they are in sight of the town, the castle on the hill looks formidable from this far back but it is actually pretty defenceless. Harry sucks in a gasp when he sees it.

“Not what you’re used to seeing eh?” he asks him and Harry just keeps quiet as they approach and it grows even taller in the sky as they stand under it, Zayn goes forward to open the gate and he is sure that his father will be on the other side and that he will have to act fast to get Harry through the gates and into the castle.

Harry starts to struggle then and he anticipates another fight easily and holds him still but he still manages to get a hand on Louis arm and he crushes down, making him cry out in pain, tears springing to his eyes. Zayn dismounts and tries to break them apart but Harry is fucking strong, maybe it’s his magic and Louis ends up punching him over and over as they grapple yet again for the second time that day.

His father is there and he can see him, because he can hear the shouting that would normally have him standing to attention but not this time, his focus is Harry. Zayn and Niall are now both trying to split them up and it takes Niall drawing his bow and arrow before Louis manages to shove Harry off panting, who let's go of the item at the Kings feet who looks between Harry and Louis in abstract horror because he realises what his son has just done. And Louis is going to pay hell for that later, he has just given Harry the rule right in front of his own family and you know what, Louis doesn’t give a single fuck.

They open the gates for them, Louis dragging Harry through them, all bloodied and battered and he’s laughing, Louis is laughing and he's really not sure why. Once he starts laughing he just can’t stop and he realises how he must look, turning up late for one, he has lost track of time completely and he can’t bring himself to care, and with a pretty young man in tow.

They're both caked in blood and the townspeople are asking what happened, they’re not cheering. He drags Harry through the town and into the castle, they don't speak, Louis just keeps laughing to himself like he is mad, because he is damn sure he just forfeited any right to be King by letting Harry claim rights for killing the dragon, and Harrys nails dig into his wrist, cutting through the skin but he doesn't care. The people part as he comes through, not wanting to break up the mini-brawl that he has going and his father doesn’t even call him back, if he can call that man his father ever again, and they’re not cheering neither, which apparently according to his father when he came back they should be. Good, he thinks as he laughs, they would only be cheering deceit anyway. He’s managed to make it to the castle and he gets himself right in, no one asks any questions and he knows exactly where he should be going right now.

He's managing to pull Harry with him through the castle with a strong grip he didn't know he had, they at least manage to make it to near the throne room, until Harry pushes him away harshly until his back connects with the wall and he is staring at Louis with what can only be described as awe and yet a mixture of that and hatred. He realises in that instant that the string connecting them is pulling him to the floor, where Harry has landed, and that with Harry with him his symptoms are gone, the thirst is still there but rather at the back of his mind, and that it has been magic connecting them all along.

 Harry’s grip on Louis increases and then he’s falling, and they’re kissing, it’s goddamn weird and disgusting, he can taste blood in Harry’s mouth, unsure whether it’s his own or Harry’s the hands in his hair are tugging violently and there is nothing that could make this worse. He groans and Harry pulls him further, he’s pressed right up against him and he can feel every flat plane of Harry’s chest and shoulders against his own and he so desperately wants the clothes between them to be off but as he scrabbles with his shirt collar, trying to push it over Harry’s head yet with his hands slick with blood he realises it’s not going to happen so he settles for pushing his hands up Harry’s and ripping, it coming away in his hands so easily and he can feel the crackling thrum of Harry’s skin against his own and his own body hums, sings with excitement.

He pulls Harry up to press him against the wall, locking his body with his as they carry on kissing, and Harry reaches for his belt and doesn’t even bother with the button just rips his way through the bloodied fabric to get to him. He makes a noise into Louis mouth and Louis is aware that he is _very_ hard, and presses himself against Harry’s hand hard and Harry responds with his own hips bucking against his body.

“Lou” he pleads and it’s so goddamn sexy that he almost blows it.

He doesn’t even care that he’s going to come inside his underwear, he realises as he grinds against Harry, who bites his neck gently and he shakes slightly. Harry’s hand comes to grope inside of his boxers, making Louis jump and then his own hand snakes down Harry’s own trousers and the younger man’s eyes widen as Louis cold hand takes him.

It surprises him when Harry comes first, gripping him tightly as his eyes shut and his mouth opens and it’s so fucking hot that Louis is too, Harry’s hand still gripping his boxers falls away and they’re sat on the floor, panting, Louis head in Harry’s neck. He does up his trousers quickly, cringing at the sensation and he slides down onto the floor next to Harry, his arm slug around him and Harry just stares at the ground and neither of them speaks.

Zayn comes to get them, there’s an undecided look on his face as he stares at his best friend and Louis doesn’t even pretend that he doesn’t feel something for Harry anymore and doesn’t move his hand from around his neck. Zayn stands there, staring at them for maybe a minute or so before his mouth twists as if he has come to some sort of internal decision and then he is speaking, and honest to God Louis had planned to never speak again, it’s so overrated.

“He wants Harry in the dungeons.” He says and Harry opens his mouth to speak and so does Louis but no sound comes out. He knows he can’t contest Zayn, can’t contest him for following the orders of his father, the King, but he wants to. He never wants to let Harry out of his sight again, although he’s not quite sure what the younger man himself wants, although he didn’t seem to be pushing him away.

“Can’t we shower first? What about in your quarters?” he asks Zayn and Zayn’s face is conflicted between not getting into trouble and helping his best friend out. Clearly helping wins because he throws his keys at Louis, _hard_ because he’s in a mood with him clearly and narrows his eyes before pointing to him.

“I want to know everything later, alright.” He says and Louis nods, apparently satisfied he walks away, his outfit clinking as he does so, and he takes Harry’s hand and pulls him through where Zayn stays. He’s been in Zayn’s room plenty of times, it’s smaller than his own and there are a lot less commodities but the shower works and that’s what counts. Harry clearly needs time to get his head round everything but there isn’t time and that’s the problem.

“You going to take off your clothes or shall I?” he asks without a hint of innuendo, which he wanted to put in but he’s still unsure of how Harry is feeling so he doesn’t dare.

Harry complies, and pulls off his clothes as Louis does the same. He leaves their clothes out on the tiled floor of Zayn’s bathroom and he switches on the shower, waiting for the water to warm up with his hand as Harry stares at him, wide green eyes meet his own and Louis tries a tentative smile- it is returned, to his relief.

He makes Harry get in first, and he thinks Harry might cry. The warm water is obviously something that he hasn’t had for a long time and as Louis steps in next to him an actual sigh leaves his mouth and he rubs the warm water into his hair and down his face and chest. Harry is still staring at him from under the stream of water.

“I’m sorry.”

“What for?” Harry’s voice is raspy, not the usual and he wonders if he’s upset or just relieved and warm.

“I don’t know, all of this, being a little bitch and refusing to be King. Dragging you into all this.”

“What will they do to me in the dungeons?” Harry asks and Louis realises now that Harry is _scared,_ he thinks that something will happen to him here, and that is not the case.

“Nothing, they’ll just keep you there until I decide what I’m doing. They’ll probably let you live here, they might disown me and make me leave.”

Harry’s arm shoots out and he grabs Louis arm tightly, “Don’t leave me.”

“I thought you wanted to go?” Louis asked and Harry shakes his head, wet hair falling into his face, as he leans in to rest his head on Louis shoulder, he was in need of a haircut, he’d get Niall to see to that.

“Not right now.” he whispers against Louis skin.

-

Louis takes Harry down to the dungeons and leaves him there with one of the guards, Nick, that he trusts, who promises to keep an eye on him. Zayn walks him back to his own bedroom in the castle, still not meeting his father on the way, who is apparently in the throne room with the rest of the Tomlinson’s trying to work out what has actually happened and how they’re going to fix it with the Crown Courts. Zayn’s tired, he can tell that he’s been worrying and he wants to say that he’s sorry but the word’s die in his throat when Zayn opens his bedroom door and two other people are upon him.

He thinks he might actually be tearing up when Liam and Niall are hugging him, tightly as if he had come back from the dead. He holds them to his body tightly and then Zayn’s hugging him too and it’s a big group hug in the middle of the bedroom.

Liam moves back and playfully swats him on the arm, “I thought you were dead! _We_ thought you were dead! What happened to you Lou?!”

Louis sighed and dramatically threw himself onto Zayn’s bed, where the other three joined him, Zayn sitting cross legged next to a sprawled Liam as Niall cuddles him.

“I couldn’t do it; I decided I didn’t want to be King.” He says simply.

“Oh and you just happened to run into Curly while you were there did you? Just wandering through the forest like a lost lamb?”

“His name is Harry,” Louis corrects him defensively, “and actually yes.”

“Go on then, what happened.” Liam asks and he tells them.

He tells them about his first four days of loneliness, about seeing Harry the first time, about Harry leaving, coming back, his horse dying- Liam pulls a saddened face- about the creature, the dragon, Harry explaining to him about his family and the Styles family and then Harry leaving him and then finding him again on the brink of death when Zayn found them. They listen without interrupting and Louis leaves out the part where Harry is fucking _magic_ and that there is clearly something connecting them because he feels worse the further away he gets.

And when he’s finished, to their credit they don’t say anything at all they just stare at him like he is goddamn mad and if he didn’t know himself he would think that he was too. He doesn’t want to know what his father is going to do now because all he wants to do is go to bed.

Instead he rubs his face in his hands like he has been doing a lot recently and lets them have a good gawp at him.

Zayn speaks first, of course he does.

“I mean you always sort of said you didn’t want this but, like, I always thought you were joking about a bit, I mean what could you have done really? But obviously not…” he trailed off at the end and Louis felt like wincing at his rather indifferent tone of voice.

Liam however, puts a hand on his arm. “If you don’t want to, then you shouldn’t have felt as if you had to.”

That makes Louis’ eyes sting and he blinks, “Thanks Li.”

Niall chews his lip as he thinks but he doesn’t say anything and after a while of just sitting there Louis stretches, because even though he’s been without sleep he also isn’t good with being without Harry and so he decides that he should probably go see him at the very least.

Zayn gives him _that_ look, the one that he’s been giving him for a good four years whenever he’s done something stupid that Zayn has had to save him from, but Liam puts a hand on his leg and Niall gives a small smile and he decides that he’s been forgiven by his friends.

“We still friends now I’m most likely not incredibly wealthy and not going to be King?”

Niall pretends to think about it, “I don’t know, I only ever really thought we were friends because you could get me that nice pie and that bow and arrow set I liked.”

Zayn snorts and it finally breaks the little bit of left over tension that had been between the two friends since he had gotten back and Louis finally shuts the door and walks through the castle.

He runs his hand along the walls, cold and a little bit damp as he heads down to the dungeons and wonders how long it will be before his father calls him into the Throne Room to kick him out of the kingdom. Knowing his father he will probably give him until tomorrow and ignore him until then, due to the brazenness of his act and the fact that his son appears to be having some sort of relations with another boy, something his father frowns deeply upon (although he seems to turn a blind eye to Zayn and Liam but then again is that actually proved?) but something that can’t be helped.

Nick looks up at him when he enters and he waves his hand, indicating that he can take it from here and that he can be relieved, which he looks pleased about because he hates his job. Louis and Nick have spent so many nights together, sometimes with Zayn, sometimes without, sat in these dungeons just bitching about life in general. Nick was probably the one who knew that this was coming the most, they’d talked about it so much, yet Nick had also talked about taking a red hot poker and shoving it up Niall’s rectum every time he spoke to the man.

He sat against the bars with his back to the cell on the cold floor, not looking at Harry but knowing he was there until finally Harry shifted and sat the same way. Louis could feel Harry’s back pressed against his own through the bars and his mouth twisted.

He picked at his trousers for a long time before Harry spoke first.

“If they disown you, you could, you know, come with me.”

Louis let that one sit for a long time before he thought about answering, not sure what to say. He was unsure of what was classed as ‘Harry and Louis’, what they were, what they could be. He turns and Harry has done the same and they are inches away from each other. Harry blinks and Louis can count every single one of his eyelashes as they sweep to meet his cheek and then open again. Wide green eyes with a hint of gold stare at him and sweeping hair, and Louis frowns at him.

“What do you want?” he’s whispering because they’re so close and Harry leans his cheek against the bars so that they’re even closer.

“I’m not sure, at first. The money, definitely the money. Now? You. I think, does it sound completely stupid if I tell you that I think we’re soul mates?”

Louis narrows his eyes at Harry, because that just sounds so stupid that he wants to bash his head against the metal bars and never wake up. He wants to rip out his own heart and eat it because it’s so cringey and so soft that it makes his head hurt.

Harry notices and waves his hands, “Well you’re not magic are you, I don’t know whether humans notice it’s just, we do, we know, the touches that feel like pulsing electric, like I’m attached to you by that piece of string that stops me from being away from you-”

“The soul mate principle.” He finishes and Harry narrows his eyes and Louis shakes his head.

“Niall’s mentioned it.”

“Of course he has, he’s got one.”

Louis eye twitches. “What are you talking about?”

“Niall, the blond lad that led me down here? He’s got magic.”

He doesn’t want to think about this, shuffles away from Harry to the opposite wall to stare at him, the cuts on his face have healed perfectly, he is perfection and it hurts Louis’ head and he doesn’t want any of this he just wishes he’d never came back full stop.

Harry curls his hand around the bars. “I’ve upset you.” he says, even though he sounds the one that’s upset, he swallows loudly and Louis runs a hand through his hair and rubs his eyes and suddenly he is really, really tired and it stretches for what seems like hours.

“I just don’t know whether I believe it, but I know I feel something for you. That’s what matters right? Not stupid magic, royalty, how I feel right now in this moment is what matters, right?” He manages to get out and the tightness is broken.

Harry nods, “Yes, right here, right now.”

“I’m so different around you,” Louis laughs but there is no humour, “I’m so serious, I’m hardly sarcastic and neither are you and we talk about shit that matters when what I want to do is talk about stuff that’ll get my mind off exactly that.”

Harry doesn’t apologise and he doesn’t expect him to, that would be apologising for everything and he’s not sure what this means when Harry says that he wants _him_. Does he mean it? Does he want the same thing that Louis wants? Soulmates or not, does he want to stay with him? They don’t speak again and Louis leans his head back and just listens to Harry breathing, and doesn’t think about anything before he falls asleep.

-

He’s woken up abruptly by his father grabbing his arm and dragging him rather unceremoniously to the Throne Room, and Harry is already in there waiting. There are quite a lot of people and Louis begins to feel nervous through his cloud of sleep, and he and Harry share a look that confirms that he feels the same. He can tell his father is angry; he’s got that energy that Louis has when he also has a temper.

“What do you think you’ve done!” ah, he thinks, his father’s anger doth break.

“I think it’s perfectly obvious what I’ve done.” He says, the sarcasm is back because it’s the thing that annoys his father the most. It’s always been the same way, he’s always done something to embarrass the family and his father has always gone off his rocker at him in front of everyone and then come for him again when he was alone.

“Well I won’t let you do it.” He says, he’s eighteen now and he will be damned if he lets his father order him around anymore, he might be the King but he’s not _his_ King, and he never will be.

“You haven’t got a choice really have you?” He snarls and the people stood against the wall that he hasn’t really been paying attention to have begun to murmur at his dissent, his blatant disregard for the King and the lack of respect that he’s showing by giving up the throne.

“Is it him, it’s him isn’t it?” he gestures to Harry, who’s being held by two guards and as he says it he is jostled, those eyes lock with him across the room and then he looks back to his father with a stiff upper lip.

“Harry? No. It’s my own free will, actually.” Louis can’t believe how his father is being and yet he can, this was always the way that he was going to be, he was stubborn. He never listened to what Louis actually wanted. His mother, his sisters, they were the ones who cared and even they weren’t here now, they wouldn’t save him and they’d never go against their father. He was the only son, and maybe he could justify his father’s reaction to him if he actually cared about anything other than power but he didn’t, he really didn’t so he didn’t see why he was dragging it out, let his sister take it, he didn’t care.

“You’ll have nothing; I won’t let you have anything. You’ll be completely stripped.” The menacing tone of his voice is there to remind Louis of how much trouble he will actually be in, how much trouble he’s been in before when he suddenly became too ill to leave his bedchamber, and how much trouble he’s been in when he’s been crying in Zayn’s arms on a night until they sleep in the same bed, of course that had also incurred his fathers wrath.

“Fine.” And there’s a moment when his father realises that Louis is serious. There’s a sudden realisation on his face that he realises he’s lost control of his son and he doesn’t like it, and yet he’s also not sure what he can do about it.

“It is me; I’m making him do this.” Harry says and it echoes around the room but Louis frowns.

“Harry, shut up.” He all but snarls and he can feel Harry’s mood change from across the room, from across the bond that they seem to have consolidated from being together. He wondered if it worked both ways.

He didn’t expect the fact that he was going to have the shit beaten out of him so quickly; his father had him in a choke hold before he could even look back towards him, and he felt those strong hands squeeze around his neck and flex, cutting off his air and his lifeline. He felt his face go puce and the blood vessels behind his eyes start to burst and no one was _fucking helping him._ All he could see was his father’s eyes, dark and full of anger as he squeezed the life out of his son in the way only a deranged man would. His vision was lilting and his hands were scrabbling at his neck, at the hands around his neck as his movements became weaker and his lungs burned, they burned so much, and he couldn’t do anything about it. He was desperate and this was the closest to death he had ever been and he wasn’t going to make it back from this, he was going to die and he resigned himself to the fact that through the bond Harry could feel his soul start to slip away from life.

Then there was another slam and the sound of a gun being fired (which never happens, how many guns do they own? Hardly none, they're left to the more violent and the richer Kingdoms), a shout and then he was on the floor and he was looking up at Liam’s wide, wide eyes before he completely blacked out.

-

It had happened like this;

Harry, who had spent his time terrified, watching Louis be strangled to death by his father, had turned and killed the two men holding him with a single slam to the throat, and he had heard the sound of their dead bodies hitting the floor. Someone had then cocked a gun and shot, but not before Zayn had run him through with his sword. Harry had then managed to get his father off him, Niall had used his bow and arrow, they managed to get him out with the threat of killing the King and leaving no heir (Harry had pulled that off very well, with his magic and his strength) and Liam and Zayn had deserted their posts and become outcasts with him, sentenced to self-exile by the King, and they had to leave the Kingdom, and _quickly._

He woke up with a thumping headache and dry, aching lungs. He gave a cough as he breathed in the harsh cold air, and Harry was immediately at his side, green eyes worried with a pinch between them in his forehead. He tried to lift his hand to sort it out but couldn’t even if he wanted to, he was too weak and way too tired. He wanted to just go to sleep again, back to the dark where he had decidedly been in much less pain than he was right now.

“Stay awake now Louis.” He said sharply and he tried to focus on the sound, a hand was on the side of his head and he leant into it, feeling the hum of magic under his fingertips.

Harry isn’t quite in focus and he squeezes his eyes together tightly before he opens one of his eyes in a slit, ah there’s Harry, leaning over him and those gorgeous eyes are locked on his. He groans and they opened both eyes and he can see them reflected in Harry’s and goddamn he looks _old._

Harry was quiet for a moment and then said simply “I thought you were going to die. I could feel it, I could see it.”

“Well here I am,” he tried to say lightly and the frown on Harry’s face deepened, the opposite of what he had intended to happen.

“I had to put you into a coma, you know, the whole fiddle in your head sort of thing. I didn’t think, I thought that you were too far gone, too starved of oxygen.” He realises that Harry has been inside his head and blushes, even though he has hardly any reason too.

He started to sit up and Harry didn’t try and push him down. The room that he was in was circular, there was another room off to his right and there was no sliver of light through the window- how long had he been out? Why did this keep happening to him around Harry. He looks at himself in the long mirror that is propped up against the wall at the end of his makeshift bed? Table? He’s got a ring of red, purple bruises around his neck in the shape of hands, but there are also the bruises that Harry’s left that he can see along his torso, where he held too tight. His hair is short again, someone cut it- Liam? And his eyes are bruised, bloodshot with burst vessels, his body looks like shit.

Harry laid a hand on his arm, feeling the hum of discontent in his body, “What’s up?”

“What happened to everyone?” he said, “Zayn, Niall, Liam, my sisters? My mother?”

“All fine, I believe that Zayn, Niall and Liam are giving us what they called ‘privacy’” he raised an eyebrow and Louis snorted, regretting that discussion when his lungs ached with the expulsion of air. “And as for the Kingdom, fine, we’re just not allowed back. I do believe I may have scared them a bit when I told them that if they sent someone after us that I would come back and quietly kill the entire Royal family in their sleep. The people believe that I’ve kidnapped you all and I brainwashed you with my magical voodoo powers,” he laughed and the sound made Louis happy despite his current condition.

“You mean, we’re all free.” He said, scrunching his nose up as he turned to look at Harry.

“Yes Louis,” he said patiently but he came closer anyway and pulled Louis head up, pressing his lips to Louis in a way that wasn’t gentle but wasn’t hard, maybe he thought that he would break him.

Louis is well aware he’s probably doing himself some damage by standing up to fist his hands in Harry’s hair, as he is taller than Louis but he can’t bring himself to care, because a) he’s free, b) he’s mostly unharmed and c) he’s with his friends and he always will be. Harry makes a content hum inside his mouth and it goes straight to his groin but he doesn’t care, couldn’t care if he tried as Harry’s warm skin touches his own.

Then Zayn comes through the door and makes a sound of disgust but as they pull apart they can see his smile through the grimace. Liam lays a hand on his shoulder and Niall peers around the door with an expression of contempt although he’s not quite sure what he’s done and Harry laughs, the sound echoes through his head and he can feel it in his gut through the bond, warmth spread through his body and he smiled.

-

**Epilogue.**

Harry’s kingdom was far, of course it was. Zayn, Liam and Niall missed their families, although they didn’t really have a choice in the matter of leaving, as if they went back they would probably be killed. They’d taken horses, although Louis had to share with Harry, who leaned into his shoulder whenever he was taking the horses’ reigns. Liam and Zayn exchanged those glances, the kind of knowing ones that meant that they were almost there but not close enough; he couldn’t wait for that one to happen. Niall was going home, he wondered when he would have told Louis that he was magic, and would he ever have done?

It had been one year and three long months since they’d left, made a life for themselves in Atylos and everything was, at the moment fine. He’d spent the morning lying on Harry’s chest, drawing patterns onto his skin while he slept and dreamt- something else he could feel through the bond, and it constantly made him smile. No one knew who he was here, he was safe, he was _happy._ There wasn’t more that he could really ask for after falling in love with someone after about a month, a short month. He didn’t get much sleep, but that was a given outside the city walls and in these parts, he had to be constantly on the alert and it was his turn take to stay up while his team slept.

There’s the sound of a gun going off behind him and he turns and of course it’s Zayn, of course they gave him a gun although he was still far better wielding a sword. He smiles and its beautiful, of course it is and Liam notices eyes bright as the return smile that is given is breath-taking.

He opens his mouth to tell Zayn sharply to watch out but then Niall has already dropped from the tree and down onto his shoulders, which counts as a kill- Zayn realises too late that the shot gave him away and they both fall to the floor with a shout and Liam approaches to help and they know it’s a trap.

That sets Harry off, of course it does, because he’s running and then Louis is following through the red bushes, the long reeds as Niall and his team run after them, and they try and lose him as they zig-zag through the forest, under the trees and avoiding any animals that they can hear to the sides of them as they try and lose Beta team.

“I don’t think that this was the best idea!” Louis shouts at Harry from behind him and Harry turns his head as he carries on running and returns with a shout.

“What are you on about; training with the Beta team is fun!”

“Not when you’re not magic!” Louis yells back and Harry just smiles as he carries on running.

They’re running out of space until the cliff and god-fucking-damn this has happened to Louis three times already and he hasn’t got the desire to repeat but obviously Harry has other ideas, and as his second in command he has to do what he’s told, even if he doesn’t like them. He had no fucking clue why they’d joined the exploration army in the first place, perhaps because they were outsiders that had to have a place in the society, but mainly Louis thought that it was because he hadn’t lost the sense of adventure and Zayn couldn’t let go of the sense of command- now it seems fucking stupid that he’s even thought about it, these survival exercises do his nut in.

Harry’s got his hand anyway, the hum goes through his body as a vibration, Harry is a mix of scared, excited and happy, like some sort of puppy. Louis feels exactly the opposite.

“I hate this part” Louis remarks as snidely and as loudly as he can and Harry catches his eye in the heartbeat before they take the jump.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well thats the end of it, I hope you kinda liked it, and I may write a sequel but it seems a bit unlikely at the moment with the amount of stuff ive got on, thanks a lot, okay that might have been a lie im making a Ziam sequel - S.


End file.
